As Zynga Becomes More Independent, Facebook Tightens Access

Zynga on Thursday announced changes to its gaming portal that will make the company even more independent of Facebook. But it also will lose some benefits of ties to its longtime partner.

Among the updates, Zynga will now use its own currency on Zynga.com, instead of routing payments through Facebook, which collects a 30% fee from transactions. In addition, Zynga.com users can now create accounts without Facebook. Previously, a Facebook account was required to sign-up for Zynga.com. The changes will go into effect next week.

The direction is not surprising. Most of the changes were foreshadowed in an amended agreement between the two companies filed in November.